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The invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. The United Kingdom was part of the invading force led by the United States.

Then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair had stood by former US President George W. Bush, whose administration had decided to go to war believing the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was in possession of so-called weapons of mass destruction.

Right from the beginning many observers doubted the credibility of the intelligence those accusations were based on. An enquiry into the decision of going to war, led by Sir John Chilcot, has come to the conclusion that the UK went to war before all peaceful options were exhausted. The now published Chilcot report states that the invasion was based on "flawed intelligence and assessments" that went unchallenged.

The number of civilians killed in the years in which the British Armed Forces were involved in the conflict, from 2003 to 2009, stands at more than 110,000 according to the website iraqbodycount.org. The below infographic shows how man UK armed service personnel died in the conflict, a total of 179, and of what causes they died.

While dictator Hussein was killed by hanging, the weapons of mass destruction were never found.

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